In mid-January 2024, Google made the decision to waive exit fees for customers of its Cloud services offered via the Google Cloud Platform. Now, it’s Microsoft’s turn to adopt a similar policy for its Azure Cloud. Let’s delve into this announcement!
On its dedicated Azure service updates site, Microsoft quietly posted a brief message containing crucial information: the end of exit fees for users looking to migrate their data from Azure to another Cloud provider. This decision aligns with Google’s move in January 2024, followed by Amazon Web Services in February 2024, completing the trio of American giants.
Like Google, Microsoft is clear: if you’re leaving and want to do so for free, you must migrate all your services and stop using Azure services by closing your account. In other words, if you’re only moving part of your services out of Azure, you won’t qualify for this fee waiver.
The American company specifies, « Azure support will apply the credit once the data transfer process is complete, and all Azure subscriptions associated with the account have been canceled. » Conversely, Amazon’s AWS Cloud does not require closing the account.
Microsoft also reminds users that there is already partial fee waiver when leaving Azure: « Azure already offers the first 100 GB/month of data transfers for free to all customers in all Azure regions worldwide. »
If Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have made such a decision, it’s likely not out of pleasure or generosity but probably to comply with a new European regulation set to take effect in September 2025: the Data Act. This move is especially significant considering the recent implementation of the Digital Markets Act, which also includes directives in this direction. This marks the first step in providing more freedom and flexibility to Azure customers.
Stay tuned for more updates as the Cloud landscape continues to evolve.